This invention generally relates to spatial position control for assembly machinery such as torque arms.
A variety of machines are available to assist operators at assembling components such as the portions of a vehicle seat. Traditional assemblies include support mechanisms that allow an operator to position a tool in a desired position relative to the work piece to carry out the necessary steps of at least a portion of an assembly process. In many instances, electronic controllers are provided to control the air supply to a tool mounted on the machinery, for example. Conventional controllers also verify that the appropriate torque is applied by a tool (such as a rotary wrench) to secure fasteners in place, for example.
In some instances, machines have been designed for particular applications. When the desired locations of the tool for completing an operation on a specific work part are known, some machines are provided with limit switches or encoders physically located on the machinery in a position corresponding to the desired positions of the tool, based upon the known work piece configuration. Such limit switches provide only limited information regarding the location of the tool to the controller during an assembly process. For example, multiple support members may be moveable into a variety of positions relative to each other to achieve a desired tool position. Conventional switch placement typically only indicates the relative positions of two such support members and not the remainder of the machine.
A major shortcoming of such arrangements is that the machinery is limited to a specific operation and cannot provide tool position information with any range of versatility. Further, an increase in the number of tool locations that are necessary during an assembly process, increases the number of switches positioned on the machinery. Further, such switches only provide position information at their particular location and, therefore, provide limited information to the controller regarding the position of the tool.
Another shortcoming of conventional arrangements is that the typical controller is large, bulky and expensive. Multiple control panels typically are required to make all necessary connections. Further, the user interfaces provided for the operators traditionally have been limited and often not user-friendly.
There is a need for an improved assembly machine that allows an operator to manually manipulate a tool into a variety of positions to complete a variety of assembly processes. This invention meets that need while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of the prior art.